The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman says he receives scam calls almost every day, including fake alerts claiming that parcels have arrived for him.
The chairman shared the experience while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior on the PTA’s crackdown against misuse of SIMs and telecom services.
He said he was particularly concerned that callers had access to information connected to a SIM registered in his name.
The PTA chairman said the authority, in collaboration with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), has conducted 110 operations over the past one-and-a-half years to tackle illegal SIM use and telecom-related fraud.
These operations resulted in the recovery of around 29,000 SIMs and the arrest of 171 people.
The chairman also acknowledged that there had previously been weaknesses in the policies governing SIM purchases and registration. He said SIMs were earlier activated through franchises, which were later brought under stricter requirements.
PTA has also restricted biometric verification machines to operate within a 10-meter radius of their designated locations, preventing them from being used elsewhere.
According to the chairman, a SIM remains registered against a person’s name for one year to maintain the relevant record.
The committee was also informed that biometric information of around 600,000 people had been received. The chairman said biometric data is collected for various government services, including NADRA, airports, prisons and driving licences.
Islamabad’s DIG Traffic told the committee that the driving licence system has also been made paperless.
PTA chairman further said 18.2 billion SIMs had been blocked and telecom companies had been fined Rs. 4.2 billion over violations.
He said all SIMs were reverified in 2015 under the National Action Plan. The latest joint enforcement operations with the NCCIA are aimed at curbing illegal SIM use, fraudulent communications and other misuse of the telecom system.
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